


Shadows of the Past

by Duck_Life



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Baby Names, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 05:29:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9220973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duck_Life/pseuds/Duck_Life
Summary: Still reeling from the latest interaction with Negan, Carl worries about Maggie's pregnancy.





	

It’s near sunset when Carl clambers up the watch post to join Maggie. She’s leaning on the railing, baseball cap snug on her head, eating an apple and staring off into the middle distance, but he can tell she heard him come up.

He stands beside her and looks out at the expanse of land, the rolling field and the road and the place where the grass meets the dark of the woods. “Is it safe for you to be up here?” he asks suddenly, looking from her abdomen and back up to her face, hidden in shadow beneath the brim of her hat.

Maggie shrugs. “Ain’t exactly safe on the ground either,” she says, and he can’t really argue with that. The high of bringing everyone together is beginning to wear off, and he can see the bags under his dad’s eyes again, the tightness in Michonne’s shoulders. “How are you, Carl?”

“Me?” he stammers, surprised. He’d been worried about _her_. Going back to Alexandria and leaving Maggie behind, pregnant and grieving, had felt like abandoning a broken-winged bird on the side of a highway. “I’m— I’m okay,” he says. “I guess.”

“Me too,” she says. “I guess.”

“How’s the baby?” Carl asks. “I mean, do you know if… it’s gonna be a boy or, or a girl?”

Maggie smiles. “The baby is _fine_ ,” she assures him. “I’ve been giving them plenty of fruits and veggies. And no, I don’t know the sex, not yet. Should be able to find out soon enough, we’ve got the technology, but…” She looks down, one hand on her belly. “I haven’t decided if I want to know.” She looks up at Carl, and the sunlight slants across both of them, their hats hiding their faces in long shadows. “Why, you got any name suggestions?”

Olivia, Spencer. Glenn, Abraham. Beth. Hershel. “No,” Carl says.

“Enid was coming up with some funny ones,” Maggie says. “The baby’s last name’ll be Rhee, so she was saying I should name it Aang, if it’s a boy… like, you know, Aang Rhee. Angry.” She laughed a little, and Carl kind of tries to laugh along with her but he doesn’t have it in him. For a long moment they’re quiet, and then Maggie puts a hand on his shoulder, makes sure he’s looking at her. “Hey,” she says. “I’m gonna be fine. _Really_. I have a doctor, a _real_ doctor, and a sterile room and tools and everything we need. And when the baby comes, I’m gonna be okay. And I’m gonna be okay after the baby comes.”

She can remember crouching in a dark room with him, her hands covered in blood, knowing that she was killing Lori and knowing there was nothing she could do about it. She can remember holding Lori’s tiny baby close to her chest while Carl tells her that he’s going to do it, he’s going to be the one to put a bullet in his mom’s head. She can remember the sound of the gun going off.

As tears begin gathering up in Maggie’s eyes, she swipes at them and shakes her head. “Sorry, hormones,” she says, trying to force a smile. “Hey, how’s Judith?”

“She’s good,” he tells her. “Gabriel’s watching her. And she’s… she’s…” He takes a deep breath, in and out. He feels like he can’t look at Maggie when he tells her, feels like it’s his fault what happened, what could have happened. “Negan had her,” he says. “Picked her up, carried her around, like… like he was playing house. Like…” He cringes, remembering. “He could’ve done anything to her, could’ve… killed… and I couldn’t do anything.”

And then he’s crying too, tears sliding down his cheek. “That’s not fair,” he says, laughing weakly, “I don’t even get to blame pregnancy hormones.”

“C’mere,” Maggie says, wrapping her arms around him. “I got you.”

They hug and they cry and the brims of their hats bump against each other, and then finally Maggie steps back, her hands on Carl’s shoulders like she’s appraising him. “You’re a good big brother,” she tells him, and then she glances down at her belly. “And you’re gonna be an _awesome_ uncle.”


End file.
